I guess Bliss will go back normal and the company acts like the past year never even happened

People want to bag on VKM as the sole reason, but looks like it's a lot of people to blame.
" The report noted this decision likely comes from WWE President Nick Khan and CFO Kristina Salen due to their obsession with keeping WWE out of the red on financial ledgers."

Nick seems to be the one making talent decisions.

Meltzer said basically the same. He heard it was a financial decision as Bray was planning on making his return in August.

I started watching wrestling right after the Wyatt family vs shield stuff. Bray has been one of my favorites. WWE is a damn joke, so while I'm sad this happened I'm stoked AEW can now get another top tier talent.

Meanwhile Dwayne's family keeps counting their $$$

Daveintx said:

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Meanwhile Dwayne's family keeps counting their $$$

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Agreed. How the blue hell is Nia Jax still with the company?

bigcat22 said:

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Daveintx said:

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Meanwhile Dwayne's family keeps counting their $$$

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Agreed. How the blue hell is Nia Jax still with the company?

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How is she not part of the blood line stable? She has taken out half the woman's roster on accident at one point or another.

How much Goldberg pulling for a match nobody asked for?

Adam Cole's contract is apparently up sometime soon after Summerslam.

Also, Ric Flair was released. Asked for his release and WWE granted it.

Vote of no confidence isn't on the table, is it?

J182 said:

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Also, Ric Flair was released. Asked for his release and WWE granted it.

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Another great talent wasted by WWE

J182 said:

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Also, Ric Flair was released. Asked for his release and WWE granted it.

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Probably cut some costs and help get Charlotte out of her father's shadow.

Just catching up on Raw, did anyone else hear Michael Cole say "16 time" randomly. I think they just exposed themselves piping in the Smackdown crowd noise from Cena's entrance last week lol.

Also noticed the CM Punk and We Want Wyatt chants are quickly drowned out by canned crowd noise.

Didn't hear it but I've had the tv muted at times; I did hear the Punk chant. Nia Jax got cut open by Rhea Ripley.

Yep heard the 16 times and also heard cm punk chants at least 3 different times

bigcat22 said:

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J182 said:

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Also, Ric Flair was released. Asked for his release and WWE granted it.

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Probably cut some costs and help get Charlotte out of her father's shadow.

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I've seen lots of speculation about the upcoming Dark Side of Ring episode on the "Plane Ride from Hell" and that it is going to make Ric Flair look like an absolute piece of ****. WWE might be trying to put some distance between them just to stay ahead of it and if true I wouldn't expect Flair to turn up in AEW any time soon either.

I always hear this story brought up but no one ever goes into detail. I'll be interested to watch that.

Rocag said:

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bigcat22 said:

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J182 said:

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Also, Ric Flair was released. Asked for his release and WWE granted it.

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Probably cut some costs and help get Charlotte out of her father's shadow.

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I've seen lots of speculation about the upcoming Dark Side of Ring episode on the "Plane Ride from Hell" and that it is going to make Ric Flair look like an absolute piece of ****. WWE might be trying to put some distance between them just to stay ahead of it and if true I wouldn't expect Flair to turn up in AEW any time soon either.

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Something I found on the Flair part of it:

Quote:

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'Two flight attendants, Taralyn Cappellano and Heidi Doyle, would compile their allegations into a 2004 lawsuit. Chief among the chronicled misdeeds was [Flair's] sexual aggression. He wore nothing but a jeweled cape, the flight attendants said, and 'flashed his nakedness, spinning his [male part] around.'
He separately grabbed each woman's hand and placed it on his crotch, and then 'forcibly detained and restrained' Doyle 'from leaving the back of the galley of the airplane while he sexually assaulted her."
Flair would later insist there was no truth to these incidents, though the WWE eventually settled out of court with both women.

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I’ve seen you same “fans” chanting #WeWantWyatt last night chanting “We want beach balls” over @WWEBrayWyatt performing. If the @wwe treated him like he was expendable it was because you ungrateful idiots did first

— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) August 3, 2021

toucan82 said:

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She's not wrong

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Chicken and egg, a little bit. Did the fans treat him as expendable because they didn't like him, or because his booking was perplexing at best?

Bobby Eaton passed away.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.al.com/life/2021/08/bobby-eaton-pro-wrestler-born-in-alabama-dead-at-62.html%3foutputType=amp

I loved it when he teamed up with Steven Regal and called himself Earl Robert Eaton. RIP

Jackal99 said:

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Bobby Eaton passed away.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.al.com/life/2021/08/bobby-eaton-pro-wrestler-born-in-alabama-dead-at-62.html%3foutputType=amp

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Always remember when the Midnight Express fought the Road Warriors in the scaffold match at Starrcade

The T Bow! said:

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I loved it when he teamed up with Steven Regal and called himself Earl Robert Eaton. RIP

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v

So as we role into next week, what do you guys expect to see at AEW Rampage in Chicago? Obviously everything is leaning towards Punk coming back. But does he go after Omega right off the start or does Bray come in at the same time and they fight for #1 contender? Personally I say send Punk straight to the top and rework Bray and Bo together as a tag team. Would love to see the brothers fight together again and dominate the tag team division.

Seems like they have set up 2 big announcements. Challenger for Kenny's belt and the tag belts since they made it a point to say there was no other competition and they seemingly have beat all the faves thus far.

Next Friday's Rampage is in Pittsburgh and the one after that is in Chicago, so if CM Punk shows up it isn't going to be next week. Assuming he does come in, I don't think he is immediately pushed into the title picture. They've teased that confrontation with Darby Allin and I would not be surprised if his first match is against Darby at All Out.

I don't expect to see Bray Wyatt wrestling for anybody this year to be perfectly honest. AEW might pick him up eventually, but I would not be surprised at all if they didn't.

My guess is that Omega next opponent is Christian Cage and then Hangman. My question would be is how the timing plays out. I like Christian and all, but I don't really feel like that's a PPV main event match. Omega vs Hangman is.

Bray is going to be subject to the 90 day non compete anyway...no way WWE ****ed that up again.

For Punk you may get a tease at Rampage, but remember the next PPV is September 5th in Chicago. Would have to think that might be the time for that.

Agree on Omega/Cage.

Cody is likely taking time off for paternity leave soon as Brandi is close to having the baby. I think that is what led to last night with Malachai...he can get buried, lay seeds of 'distrust' with the other EVP's (Bucks/Omega)...whether somewhat true or not they're adding it into the storyline.

Comes back, gets his glory over Black, then feuds with Kenny in 2022 or something similar.

Hangman's wife is also expecting so he may take a break too...not sure when she's due.

No way Bray is there any time soon.

Punk not til Chicago. But honestly, I would laugh he doesn't come back at all and all of this was just internet hype that AEW just used to their benefit. Punk has been known to troll in the past, so really could be just another troll job. I do think he'll be back though.


If Punk and Bryan come in and they go straight to the top for contendership, I wonder how a lot of the roster would feel about that.

Darby will definitely be Punk's first match back.

Also I thought Brandi already had her baby?

Buzzy said:

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Jackal99 said:

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Bobby Eaton passed away.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.al.com/life/2021/08/bobby-eaton-pro-wrestler-born-in-alabama-dead-at-62.html%3foutputType=amp

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Always remember when the Midnight Express fought the Road Warriors in the scaffold match at Starrcade

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Ah, the Midnight Express vs. Rock n Roll Express feud from back in the days of Mid-South / Houston Wrestling... ate it up as a kid.

The T Bow! said:

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Darby will definitely be Punk's first match back.

Also I thought Brandi already had her baby?

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Oh - maybe she did. I read rumors that he was going on paternity leave soon...so figured it would coincide with the birth but maybe not